The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Guzmania plant, hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name `Celina`. The genus Guzmania is a member of the family Bromeliaceae.
Guzmania is predominantly epiphytic with a few terrestrial species and is native to the tropics. For the most part, species vary in diameter from 7 or 8 inches to 3 or 4 feet and have rosettes of glossy, smooth-edged leaves.
Floral bracts of Guzmania frequently have brilliant colors and may last for many months. The range of colors for Guzmania is generally from yellow through orange but may also include flame red and red-purple. White or yellow, tubular, three-petalled flowers may also appear on a stem or within the leaf rosette but are usually short-lived.
Guzmania may be advantageously grown as pot plants for greenhouse or home use. Desirably, the plants are shaded from direct sunlight, and during the spring to autumn period, the central vase-like part of the leaf rosette is desirably filled with water.
Guzmania is native to tropical America. Leaves of Guzmania are usually formed as basal rosettes, which are stiff and entire and in several vertical ranks. Guzmania plants have terminal spikes or panicles which are often bracted with petals united in a tube about as long as the calyx. The ovary is superior and the seeds plumose.
Asexual propagation of Guzmania is frequently done through the use of tissue culture practices. Propagation can also be from offshoots produced by the plant which may then be rooted. The resulting plantlets are detached from the mother plant and may be potted in a suitable growing mixture.
The new cultivar was discovered as a naturally occurring mutation among plants of the parent cultivar `Gisela G24` (unpatented), which is a non-variegated Guzmania plant. The female parent of `Gisela G24` was Guzmania `Magnifica` (unpatented). The male parent of `Gisela G24` was an unnamed and unpatented plant of Guzmania zahnii. `Celina` was discovered and selected among plants of the cultivar `Gisela G24` by the inventor, Reginald Deroose, in 1987 in a controlled environment in Evergem, Belgium.
`Celina` is characterized by its medium to large plant size and its variegation on the leaves that is a linear band of reddish-pink at the sheath becoming creamy white at one-third of the leaf. The inflorescence is red with yellow and the part where the primary bracts are positioned is slightly compressed.
The first act of asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was performed by the inventor in 1987, from offshoots produced by the plant. Horticultural examination of these asexually reproduced plants initiated in 1987 has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for `Celina` are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.